Evgeni Koroliov’s strengths as a Bach pianist carry over to what I believe is his first all-Mozart CD. These include his gift for harmonic pointing and dynamic shading without being precious about it, as you hear in the B-flat sonata’s superbly sustained slow movement and in the F major’s wondrous first-movement development section. Koroliov’s supple hands and consistent scholarship also enliven Mozart’s myriad trills, turns, and other decorative devices, deliciously so in the A minor sonata’s more-difficult-than-they-sound outer movements. The so-called “easy” C major gets a performance that’s assertive and direct as well as sophisticated in regard to accentuation and phrasing (self-conscious, never).
Bearing all of this in mind, several issues qualify my recommendation. Next to the warm, excellently defined sonics characterizing most of Koroliov’s Tacet and Hänssler Bach recordings, the present disc’s more distant, hollow-sounding pickup slightly disappoints. Then there’s the inevitable catalog competition. For example, Alfred Brendel’s digital studio remakes of the K. 310 and K. 533/494 sonatas tap into wider expressive and coloristic possibilities in the slow movements, while the faster tempos, dramatic flair, and crisp articulation that the aged Vladimir Horowitz brought to K. 281 are enough to keep many Mozart specialists humble. All told, Koroliov’s admirers will enjoy this release, even if his Mozart does not yet traverse the discographical heights he’s achieved in Bach.
